Lakewood to homeless: Take $4,000 to get out

Residents of the Tent City off Cedar Bridge Avenue in Lakewood prepare for the end of their community.
STAFF VIDEO BY THOMAS P. COSTELLO

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A sign inside Lakewood’s Tent City homeless encampment on Friday. Residents are being offered up to $4,000 by the town to leave the camp.
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LAKEWOOD – The township has found a new way to evict the homeless from Tent City: Give them cash.

Some of the homeless have pocketed up to $4,000 in taxpayer dollars in exchange for staying away from Tent City and for not taking advantage of a court deal that entitled them to a year's worth of housing on the public's dime, township and nonprofit officials said.

With Lakewood's blessing, one homeless man used cash from his buyout to buy a $2,000 car. A homeless couple bought a trailer in South Carolina. On Friday, a man at the camp had a gym bag packed, ready to take a flight to California, which he had never visited.

"It was a lot cheaper for us to give them the money," Deputy Mayor Albert Akerman said. "A lot of people there were simply down on their luck. They just needed a little head start."

Nearly one of five Tent City residents counted in a camp census in May 2013 who are participating in the settlement are poised to receive the buyout checks, some for as little as $350.

Lakewood expects to spend upwards of $600,000 in local and federal dollars to depopulate Tent City and clear out debris by the end of June, Akerman said.

The buyouts comply with the court order, as they are being given to people who present legitimate relocation plans to officials, said Jeffery Wild, a Roseland lawyer who represents Tent City's residents. Wild said he has reviewed each of the plans submitted by the homeless.

"These folks are getting the best of both worlds," said Wild, referring to the chance for the homeless to live privately and get a little money as well. "Our firm would object to the use of cash instead of housing. We have made sure that is not occurring."

Minister Steve Brigham of Lakewood Outreach Ministries, which has organized Tent City into a community for more than seven years, views the buyouts as dangerous temptations for people living in the woods who may be dealing with substance abuse.

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"I don't think the township was being very ethical," Brigham said. "They dangled this carrot, and people bit."

Return trip

Some people took the buyouts and still ended up back in Tent City, after their relocation plans fell through and they ran out of money, Brigham said.

Akerman said he knows of at least one person who took the buyout and returned afterward to sleep at Tent City. Wild said he is unaware of any such instances.

On Friday, several people at the camp pointed out a woman who they say returned to the camp after taking the buyout. She declined to comment.

Michael McNeil, executive director of the non-profit Solutions to End Poverty Soon, which Lakewood tasked with placing the homeless in housing, said that 125 people were living at Tent City during last year's census at the camp.

Lakewood agreed to pay for their housing for a year in exchange for the camp — which is on township property off Cedar Bridge Avenue and South Clover Street — closing for good once everyone was placed. Those not counted in the census are not entitled to the year's worth of housing paid for mostly by Lakewood taxpayers.

How and why a homeless camp was established in the woods in Lakewood and the man behind its establishment.
2010 report by Shannon Mullen , Staff Video by Peter Ackerman

Of the 125, four are dead and 36 are unaccounted for, McNeil said.

Of the remaining 85, 55 have been placed in housing, 11 have taken the buyout, 5 are awaiting approval for their buyout plans and 14 continue to live in Tent City, McNeil said. He expects those who remain in Tent City can be placed in motel rooms until STEPS can find them an apartment.

Brigham believes that the placement process was dragged out, leading many of the 36 people who are unaccounted for to grow frustrated and leave.

"Many of these people had to spend a winter in the woods waiting for their housing," Brigham said. "It was unfair to them."

McNeil takes issue with those who criticize the amount of time it has taken STEPS to place Tent City's homeless in apartments. Finding landlords willing to house homeless people who until recently have been living amongst the trees and may be dealing with serious emotional and substance abuse issues is not easy, he said.

Long time Lakewood Tent City resident Sam Dill (right) is shown with Minister Steve Brigham outside his home Friday, May 30, 2014. The township intends to close the encampment on Sunday. STAFF PHOTO
THOMAS P. COSTELLO

Lakewood Tent City resident Paul Cowen is packed to leave the community Friday, May 30, 2014, and move to California to stay with faminly there. The township intends to close the encampment on Sunday. STAFF PHOTO
THOMAS P. COSTELLO

Lakewood Tent City resident Manny Leon is interviewed about what may be the last days of the community Friday, May 30, 2014. The township intends to close the encampment on Sunday. STAFF PHOTO
THOMAS P. COSTELLO

Lakewood Tent City resident Manny Leon is interviewed about what may be the last days of the community Friday, May 30, 2014. The township intends to close the encampment on Sunday. STAFF PHOTO
THOMAS P. COSTELLO

Lakewood Tent City resident Manny Leon is interviewed about what may be the last days of the community Friday, May 30, 2014. The township intends to close the encampment on Sunday. STAFF PHOTO
THOMAS P. COSTELLO

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"The majority of them are doing OK," said McNeil of the 55 who have been placed. "We expected there would be some issues, and there definitely have been cases where I have had to step in. But we haven't gotten no where near as many calls as we thought we would."

The 36 people who are unaccounted for have up to a year after Tent City's closure date to go to STEPS and claim what they are entitled to under the court settlement, Wild said.

Akerman said that Lakewood has budgeted for the costs of the 36 people, should they turn up.

Lakewood has already set aside $350,000 in municipal tax dollars to pay for Tent City's closure, plus a $38,000 federal Community Development Block Grant, Akerman said.

Akerman did not immediately know how much Lakewood has already spent on Tent City's homeless. He anticipates Lakewood will set aside additional money in its budget for 2014 — and possibly in 2015 — to cover the costs, which are expected to top $600,000.

"People of all backgrounds in town are upset with how much we have spent on this," said Akerman, who emphasized that Lakewood had no choice but to comply with the court order, given the costly alternative of continuing to challenge the matter legally. "We can't afford to give any more."

Some success

Some of the buyout cases have been success stories, said Sister Hannah, a longtime volunteer at the camp who declined to give her last name.

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The couple who moved to South Carolina report that they have situated the trailer on a small plot, Sister Hannah said. The couple consider themselves vegetarians and are growing crops and raising chickens for their eggs on the site, she said.

"I'm hoping that everyone will be happy," said Sister Hannah, who was helping to clean up Tent City on Friday. "That's the only way I can be happy."

The case of the homeless man who bought the $2,000 car did not turn out as fortunate, Akerman and Brigham said.

Minister Steve Brigham and his homeless camp in Lakewood got off to a rough start in 2010 battling both snowstorms and threatened dismantling by Lakewood officials.
Report by Shannon Mullen , Staff Video by Peter Ackerman

The man said he needed the car for "business purposes," Akerman said. But after buying the car in New York, he did not register it, Akerman said.

The man brought the car back to Tent City, taking a license plate from a vehicle on the street and placing it on his, Brigham said. Before long, police impounded the car, Brigham said.

As others on Friday prepared for Tent City's imminent closure, Paul Cowen nervously poked through his belongings stashed inside a gym bag and looked forward to his first airplane flight since 1978.

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Cowen, 55, is using the proceeds from a $3,500 buyout check to cover the expenses of a trip to California, where he hopes to hook up with relatives. A charity group based in Hudson County that wished to remain anonymous paid for his one-way ticket to Los Angeles.

Cowen said he used to own a home in Belleville and held a job with a chemical company for 29 years. But after losing his job and getting ordered by a judge to stay away from his home, he ended up at Tent City, where he lived for 14 months.

"It's very hard to get yourself out of this kind of a rut once it happens," said Cowen, who hoped the people of California would turn out to be as friendly as he expects. "I consider myself lucky to be a graduate of Tent City. Believe it or not, this is the high end of homelessness."